Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

Association of Local government Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON), Oyo State, has decried the planned appointment of caretaker chairmen for the 33 local government areas by Governor Seyi Makinde.

A statement by ALGON Chairman, Ayodeji Abass–Aleshinloye, described the plan as tales by moonlight on grassroots democratic governance.

Abass-Aleshinloye said the governor’s plan is a tale better told to the un-informed and co-deceptive wreckers of the democratic culture.

The ALGON chairman described democracy as a seed that germinates and develops on the practice and strict adherence to the rule of law and a willingness to entrench the democratic culture by its proponents.

“So far, Makinde’s undemocratic disposition and flagrant disobedience, with impunity, of court orders by illegally dissolving constitutional bodies, elected democratic local government structures, breaches of contractual obligations, in Oyo State clearly shows a despotic government.

“Perhaps, the governor may want democracy, but it appears his spirit is too weak to take the necessary courageous steps to be on the right path for its evolution,” he said.

Abass-Aleshinloye drew the governor’s attention to the subsisting judgments of the Supreme Court that declared as illegal, null and void, any dissolution of elected local government councils by state governors and state assemblies.

“Makinde is aware of this and the High Court judgment, which re-emphasised same and restrained him and House of Assembly from dissolving local governments.

Related News

“The governor did not only consciously flout these subsisting court orders/judgments, he also took other dangerous steps by illegally dissolving OYSIEC, a constitutional body with a specified tenure provided by our constitution.”

“It is advisable that the governor gives due regard to the rule of law to which he has sworn to uphold by toeing a path of constitutionality to forestall a state of anarchy,” he said.

In its reaction, PDP described members of the sacked ALGON as mere noise makers who want to benefit  from illegal conducts.

PDP, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, said ALGON members who were raising issues about Governor Mankinde’s proposed composition of the local governments leadership are swimming against the tide of public opinion.

It said there is need to reconstitute the councils’ leadership and the local council development areas, noting that such step will be in the right direction and in satisfaction of the yearning of a teeming majority of residents in the state.

“As a party, the PDP wishes to tell the governor to ignore the latest rants of the sacked illegal council chairmen on the planned appointment.

“The sacked chairmen claiming to be ALGON members in Oyo State despite having been sacked legally had attacked Makinde over a reported plan to appoint caretaker chairmen for local councils, a step which the PDP described as baseless noise-making that cannot hold water,” the party said.

The party also maintained that the former chairman’s rant was medicine after death, because the circumstances that led to their sack were different from what they portrayed to the unsuspecting public, as they got into office through illegality and wanton disobedience to court order.